PlayTV is the little PVR doohicker that was released in PAL territories as a PS3 add-on back in 2008. Now, a Sony rep has confirmed they’re working on a second model, with social networking features most likely to be added.
‘Course, with the PS3 being a whole lot more social these days anyway, things like Facebook integration aren’t as desired. Freeview HD support is also rumoured to be on the cards, for free terrestrial TV channels.
Mark Green, senior producer at Sony Cambridge Studio, confirmed to Spong that they’re “still working on PlayTV, PlayTV 2. And then we have other guys working on other concepts…”
Very intriguing for our friends across Europe and Australia. [Spong via VideoGamer]
Steve M.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 10:33 PMDoesn’t the one out now already pick up HD channels?
Richard
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 1:24 AMWait, did they say that ‘facebook integration isn’t as desired’?
Maybe I missed it, but at what point did the Facebook fad both come and go?
Chumly
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 9:57 AMPlayTV happily picks up freeview HD channels. all free to air digital channels in fact, including 3D when it’s boadcast.
What social networking features could possibly be necessary is questionable – tweet every program you watch? chat while watching your soaps?
seems unnecessary compared to the more needed additions of a third tuner (record two channels at once), ability to automatically record a full series, browser integration for scheduling remotely, integration with ABC Iview and other channels catch up services (within playtv rather than through browser) etc
also, those that do use PlayTV – have you experienced loss of sound occasionally when recording on 9HD?
matt
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 10:14 AMhmm, I haven’t recorded channel 9 yet I don’t think… maybe the problem is chnl 9 still switches between 5.1 for shows to stereo for ads every time there is an ad break? chnl 7 just stays 5.1 all the time…
also, one fix that would be nice:
say you are watching a program, then pause it to go do something. then come back 10 mins later: you then decide you want to do something else (like play a game), so you tell playTV to record the program: it doesn’t start recording from where you pause it, it starts recording from when you tell it to record, so you loose that 10 mins from when you paused to when you set it to record.
other than fixing that, and maybe a third tuner, there is nothing I’d change about it.
johnny
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 2:44 PMno issues here, all channels work good
Rhys
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 11:10 AMThere are performance issues (massive stuttering while recording HD and watching at the same time), problems with getting stuff off your PS3 (even 500gb isn’t enough if your recording in HD, have to change country, etc), no NTFS support (files >4gb), etc.
And those are just some of the software issues.
Why anyone would actually WANT Freeview compliance is lost on me. It’s actually a downgrade in features (no transferring off the device, no 1.5x with sound, no ~15second skip, etc).
PlayTV in its current form is basically a giant flop.
brad
Monday, June 7, 2010 at 1:31 PMcouldnt agree with you more man, the play tv has been a giant fuckaround since i got it, constant stuttering, not finishing show recordings, i had to unplug it the other day and just plug in the aerial to the tv just to get a picture,
Oosh
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 3:55 PM‘Freeview HD’ is the brand name used for the UK’s DVB-T2 transmissions – which PlayTV is currently incompatible with.
I’m not aware of any plans to roll-out DVB-T2 in Australia.
jason
Saturday, October 23, 2010 at 12:25 PMHey guys, in regard to the sound not recording on 9HD, change sound setting from stereo to multi channel. I had the same problem, someone on another post suggested the change, which I did and it works just fine.